Crash disrupts Astana’s Tour de France preparations, Fuglsang should recover in time

Jakob Fuglsang’s good buildup to the Tour de France has been interrupted by a high speed training crash which also took down two Astana team-mates, although the Danish rider is the least injured of the three riders.

The accident happened on the island of Tenerife today, with Fuglsang, Andrei Grivko and Assan Bazayev hitting the deck while carving through a right hand turn on a descent.

Occuring soon after the training ride started, the trio’s fall fortunately did not affect the five others who were with them. Egor Silin, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Dmitriy Muravyev, Alexey Lutsenko and Kevin Seeldraeyers were all able to avoid the fallen riders and remained upright.

The trio were brought to hospital, where their injuries were assessed and treated. Fuglsang, who finished second on a stage and fourth overall in last week’s Critérium du Dauphiné, was the least affected; while he has trauma to his elbow and back, his team has indicated that he should be able to resume training in the coming days.

Things are less positive for Grivko and Bazayev. The latter suffered facial injuries and as a result has had to put his Tour de France preparations to a halt. He will fly back to Europe and receive further treatment there. As for Grivko, he suffered a hand injury which could be a fractured scaphoid. He is thought to have a 50/50 chance of continuing training for the Tour, with a specialist’s appointment tomorrow to determine the outcome.

The team will provide an update tomorrow after additional tests have been carried out.

Astana won the Giro d’Italia with Vincenzo Nibali. He will not take part in this year’s Tour, with Fuglsang due to lead the squad there.